Story Signals

Inspiring interviews and lessons learned on living with purpose, clarity, and meaning

25 Lessons from 25 Episodes

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This week on Story Signals, I’m sharing the lessons I’ve learned from the first 25 episodes of the show. It’s coming up on a year since I had the first inkling of an idea for this podcast, and now being six months in, I’ve got a lot to share. This is the longest solo show I’ve had so far, and it’s packed full of the best tips, lessons, quotes, and strategies from my experience hosting Story Signals, and the phenomenal guests we’ve all been able to learn from. Enjoy!

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The List: 25 Lessons from 25 Episodes

1. Get started, and start small – learned from Jon Acuff, Matt Frazier, James Clear, Tyler Tervooren

2. Surround yourself with passionate, supportive people

3. Read more than you watch – learned from Jeff Brown, Eric Zimmer

4. Practice, practice, practice – listen to more on this from episode 24

5. Contraints are a gift – learned from Mike Rohde, Jedd Rose

6. Set upper limits – learned from James Clear

7. Take smart risks – learned from Tyler Tervooren

8. Cut out what doesn’t matter – learned from Matt Frazier, James Clear

9. Don’t be afraid to ask – learned from emailing lots of guests, especially “famous” ones!

10. Provide value and help others – learned from Jeff Goins

11. Stuff won’t fulfill you – learned from Joshua Becker

12. Love without expectations is the most wonderful gift we can give – learned from Branden Harvey

13. Guard your time – learned from a rejection email Mason Currey sent me

14. To make a difference, step 1 is showing up! – learned from John Sowers

15. Multiply the talents of people around you – learned from Jeff Brown 

16. Focus on the principles of your craft and connecting with others. Then you can see where the changes are coming and adapt quicker than others! – learned from Mike Rohde, Jon Acuff

17. Clean the lens of your perspective. Ask yourself, what is the long-term impact vs short-term gain? – learned from Eric Zimmer

18. The journey is the reward – learned/reminded from Allison Vesterfelt

19. The daily choice between fear and faith – learned from Jon Gordon

20. The power of limiting beliefs and personal rejection – why you should try first, and limit later – learned from Benny Hsu, Jeff Goins

21. Life is not about you, you are about life! – learned from Jeff Goins, Benny Hsu, Richard Rohr

22. Find a simple, effective solution, and then make it the best solution – learned from Jedd Rose

23. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Open yourself up to the world, and the world will open itself to you – learned from Jia Jiang, Allison Vesterfelt

24. No one is giving out money – learned from Brendan Leonard

25. You are enough – the most important lesson I’ve learned. For more, check out episode 21.

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  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

The Power of Practice in our Life’s Story

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This week is just you and me, because I want to share the value of practice and rituals in our life’s story. What we practice in our day-to-day lives says a lot about who we are, what’s important, and where our priorities lie. Practices and rituals also help give shape and purpose to our relationships, work, and passions. Some of the sub-topics we’ll be exploring include habit formation, writing guidelines, books and apps, the four rules of daily writing, spark files, and mostly how to simply get over yourself and get down to work. I believe the little things we do can have a great cumulative impact, if we’re just patient with process and practice.

Four Ways to Freedom in Your Practice

  1. No Hating
  2. No Doubting
  3. No Editing
  4. Just Practicing

Why this Matters

Regardless of the practice (writing, running, meditating) I’m always surprised how quickly I can move past the initial wall. In writing, the words want to come out, and I just try and guide them on to the page. When I get tripped up, it’s because of this. I hate the words, I doubt my voice, I edit relentlessly. Then my allotted time has passed, and I haven’t gotten over my inner critic enough to write very much at all!

This is a short episode, and I hope you can move through it quickly and get to work on your practice. In fact, my challenge for everyone this week is to pick one (not two, not three, not seven, but one!) practice you’d like to implement in your life. Then list a few small steps you can take to get started, and only do those small steps for the next week or two! I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

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Resources

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

John Sowers shows us the Heroic Path, and the Value of Mentors

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This week I’m very excited to be sharing the story of John Sowers, President of The Mentoring Project and author of The Heroic Path. John shares with us his story of working with Billy Graham, heeding the call to shift his focus to the plight of fatherless youth, leading TMP with Donald Miller, and much more. We also talk about being a father to twin girls, how a journal entry the night of their birth was the catalyst for Heroic Path.

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I’ve been fortunate to see John speak a couple of times, and connect with him at conferences, and he definitely practices what he preaches (as well as any of us can). It’s refreshing to see someone intentionally focus so much on improving the lives of people around him, and equipping them with the tools to change their communities as well.

The First Step is Showing Up

The most important part of our talk was John’s point that the best thing we can do as mentors is to simply show up! This is the crucial first step, but too often we don’t take it because of the subsequent steps! This applies throughout all kinds of things in life. Show up, be present, give your life away. Repeat tomorrow.

Listen here

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Resources

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

 

 

Grant Peelle shares his story of rejecting complacency and following your dreams

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On the day of my 29th birthday, I watched the documentary film I’m Fine, Thanks. IFT told the story of people who were rejecting the status quo, doing what they cared about, and understanding the risks along the way. When I watched the doc, it really helped spark a mindfulness in my life over the decisions I was making, the life I was pursuing, and what really mattered to me.

As inspiring a film as IFT was, Grant’s story of what happened after the success, and how it impacted his family, relationships, work ethic, and personal life. Because we all experience what occurs after success, which is that life goes on! Sometimes we try to hang on to our high points at the risk of missing the parts of life which follow, which is missing a lot of life! Grant now works at StillMotion, and he shares a little bit of the stories he wants to share, and the framework they use when looking for compelling documentary topics.

The StillMotion Elements of a Compelling Story

A Character who displays Complexity, Uniqueness, and Desire.

To drive the point home, I found a great video from StillMotion on Storytelling:

One of the great parts of interviewing a filmmaker is the beautiful visual content we can share with you. So while these show notes are a little light on text, the visual quality is probably better than any episode I’ve shared in the past! Now, on to the actual interview with Grant.

Listen here

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Resources

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

 

Shared Stories – My Interview on The Mindful Creator

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This week I’m trying something new, sharing the interview I did on the Mindful Creator podcast with Brett Henley. I really enjoyed being on show with Brett, who was on Story Signals episode 8 with me also. I think it’s a conversation worth listening to, and here’s what we cover.

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What You’ll Learn

  • How all of the different pieces connected on our journeys and how are they serving the story we are currently telling
  • How we can explore living a more meaningful story through the work we do each day
  • How we can navigate the unwritten and uncertain parts with grace and humility.
  • Hero mindset vs. being the guide of our stories.
  • The larger narrative we’re forming through our experiences and our body of work isn’t always visible or clear until we’re right in the heart of it.
  • How to keep exploring when we don’t have all the answers
  • When we fear losing control of our stories and why we sometimes try to force structure to predict the outcomes.

 Listen here

Resources

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

 

The Most Important Lesson I’ve Learned: “You Are Enough”

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Today’s episode is just you and me, because I want to share the most important lesson I’ve learned.

You Are Enough

For me, it bears repeating every day. When I forget, I pursue all types of ways to find meaning and definition. It could be in my work, writing, status, power, influence, travel, or new stuff. If I’m who I am and was made to be at the core is not enough, then none of those symbols or achievements will ever fill in the gap.

Now hold on! If contentment and fulfillment is your base mindset, then how will you ever achieve anything?

A valid point, and I think this is the crucial balance of our lives. My hope is that because I am ultimately fulfilled by love and purpose, it gives me such great clarity that I can pursue and achieve more. Or less. But the defining characteristic of life won’t be how many products we sell, subscribers we have, money we make, or stuff we accumulate.

Ready to Listen? Here we go.

3 Questions to Ask

  1. What personal identity am I placing in my work?
  2. How would I feel if I wasn’t working here? What else would I do? And what if Plan B (C, D, etc) didn’t work out? Am I still enough then?
  3. What personal traits am I proud of and are valued regardless of the work I’m doing?

Resources

I’ve also included a great song from Ryan O’Neal of Sleeping at Last, aptly titled You’re Enough. I highly recommend you give it a listen. Other than the song, this episode was pretty resource light. The main action items were to continually ask yourself the 3 questions mentioned above.

Thank you!

I really appreciate everyone listening to the show, and especially this episode. It comes from a deep place inside me, and I hope it resonated with you as well. I think finding our personal meaning and definition is a crucial part of our story, and helps give clarity to everything else we do.

I would also like to hear what you think of the solo shows in general, just you and me. Do you prefer interviews, or the solos? A mix of both perhaps? I would love to hear your thoughts, you can find me on twitter @mattragland or @storysignals. Email also works, and it’s matt[at]storysignals.com (click to email).

Thanks so much for listening!

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

James Clear teaches us about habits, leveraging your skills, and the power of marginal gains

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Our guest this week on Story Signals is James Clear, a writer, photographer, and entrepreneur. James’ story is inspiring not because of drastic changes he has made, but primarily because of the small, incremental changes that have yielded big results. We talk about his life and work, the trick of upper boundaries, why humans are like rose bushes, and much more. I really enjoyed our conversation, and there is so much to use right away, with lots of actionable tips.

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What You’ll Learn

  1. We can use all kinds of excuses to keep us from taking action and doing the work that matters to us. One of the biggest excuses is “I just need to improve my skills a little more”. The good news is you will always be improving your skills, but once you get started, you’ll have a better filter for choosing which skills apply to your work.
  2. Humans are like rose bushes. A careful, intentional gardener will prune away many flowers so that a few roses can grow and bloom to the height of their beauty and potential. As we eliminate some of the choices and habits that choke our growth, making the right decisions become easier.
  3. If you have a big goal, let’s break it down to small, incremental gains you can make on a regular basis. Applying the rule of upper limits really helps with this. If you need to start exercising, decide that you can only exercise for 5 minutes a day to start. Then after several weeks, start increasing the upper limit in a small way, until you’ve reached your goal.

Listen here

Resources

Connect with James

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

Jeff Brown of the Read to Lead Podcast talks about recognizing talent in others, the importance of mentors, and his favorite business books

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Our guest this week is Jeff Brown, host of the Read to Lead podcast. It’s always a pleasure to interview a fellow podcaster, and Jeff is no exception. Right away you’ll hear his ease on the microphone, because not only is he a podcaster, but spent years on radio as well. Jeff has a great story filled with ups and downs, challenges, success, and a time of real soul-searching. We also cover topics like adapting knowledge to fit our industry, the importance of public speaking, recognizing talent in other people, and being a mentor who multiplies the collective skill of those around her.

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Jeff’s advice was invaluable, not just from his own experience, but the wisdom he’s gleaned from interviews with some of the best minds in business, art, and leadership. Now, of all the great advice Jeff shared though, here are the three points that really stood out to me.

What You’ll Learn

  • Be a leader who recognizes the talent in others, and help multiply it! This was the best part of the interview for me, and reminds of all us that we can be a leader who multiplies the collective talent around us, or divides and diffuses it. Choose to mentor and multiply!
  • Know the unique skills you have that can be leveraged in your current and future work. If you have trouble pinpointing those skills, take the time to reflect on what topics or skills people usually ask for your help on. That’s a good place to start!
  • Finally, public speaking is rapidly becoming a skill we all need to have. The ability to clearly communicate our ideas and values in front of an audience of one or one thousand can be what sets you apart in your field. For this skill, I recommend Jeff’s interview with Dan Roam, and also the podcast What the Speak?! with Bryan Kelly.

Listen here

Click here to download the episode directly.

Resources

Connect with Jeff

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

Tyler Tervooren helps us take smarter risks, and shows the way to better living through uncertainty

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Tyler Tervooren of Riskology.co is our guest on Story Signals this week, and I’m grateful he took the time to share his story and advice with us. We talk about risk-taking, habit formation, and better living through uncertainty. Tyler’s experience and skill in balancing story with data leads to advice which both inspirational and instructional.

In 2010, Tyler was a part of series of layoffs in his company, leaving him with the opportunity to pursue a niche in finding correlations in risk, behavior patterns, resiliency. You’ll find many applicable actions from this conversation, but these stood out.

  1. The ways Tyler found adventure and risks were making him smarter, stronger, and more attractive.
  2. How he was able to find the convergence of talent, interest, and funding to become a bootstrapper.
  3. Why he has never (successfully) started a new habit without taking the time to slowly and steadily build the habit.

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Resources & Where to Connect

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.

Jon Acuff shares How to Start, Cultivate Skills, and Punch Fear in the Face

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Jon Acuff is the best-selling author of Quitter, Stuff Christians Like, and his most recent book Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work that Matters. With a title like that, I hope you’re getting just as excited as I was to talk with Jon! We talk about fear, the temptation to play the blame game, cultivating flexible skills in a changing workforce, and the importance of relationships.

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3 Big Lessons You’ll Learn

1. Fear is a big part of what’s holding us back.

Whether in creative work, daily work, and sometimes in relationships. We don’t want to look dumb, silly, or foolish. We’ve created a culture of “instant expert” and sometimes it can be crippling. Have the courage to learn, risk, and simply start on something you feel compelled to work on. This week, make sure you punch fear in the face and get started on something you’ve been delaying, and let me and Jon know about it on twitter using the hashtag #fearpunch!

2. Relationships and community are essential.

They are ways we connect and learn from each other. One of the best traits we can cultivate is to close the gap between the time we receive good feedback to the time we actually receive it, then act upon it. Who are the people in your life you trust to give you good feedback. Listen to them!

3. The importance of flexible skills.

Did you catch the story where Jon told his youngest sister that much of the work he’s doing now didn’t exist when he was in college? That’s crazy! But every generation now seems to be doing types of work that didn’t exist previously. Understand what skills you need for the work you’re doing, and be flexible. Stay in touch with where the industry is going, and be willing to take risks. In episode 4, Mike Rohde shares his own progression as a designer and artist through the years, so if you’re interested in more advice on flexible skills, definitely check that episode out too.

Listen Here

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Resources

Connect with Jon

Want more? Stay in the Story Signals community!

Thanks for checking out this episode of Story Signals. If you’d like to be notified when a new episode is available, here’s the ultimate list of resources to get started. After, there are 2 easy ways to stay involved and keep listening.

  1. If you think Story Signals is deserving, leave a 5 star rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Click here for iTunes, and click “View in iTunes” – “Reviews & Ratings” – “Write a Review” (see the screenshots). For Stitcher, click here.

  2. Share with a friend! I would be very appreciate of your recommendations to family, friends, and social networks. If you mention me, @MattRagland, or @StorySignals on Twitter, I’ll be sure and retweet the share! Just share StorySignals.com – StorySignals.com/itunes – StorySignals.com/stitcher.